Purity test reignites RNC tensions

An internal discussion over whether the Republican National Committee should cease funding candidates who do not support core party principles has gone public, frustrating RNC members and reopening old wounds within a party still recuperating from a bitterly divisive recent special election.

The resolution, sponsored by Indiana national committeeman Jim Bopp, outlines 10 “key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle” that he and some of the more orthodox conservative members of the committee believe candidates should adhere to in order to receive the RNC’s support.

Story Continued Below

Among the positions: support for gun rights, support for the Defense of Marriage Act and opposition to President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package. Other key issues include support for smaller deficits and market-based solutions to health care and energy.

“RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy position of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee,” the resolution reads.

While nearly all of the prescriptions are within the Republican mainstream, Bopp’s resolution has nevertheless unsettled the committee, with some members expressing annoyance at the semblance of a litmus test and others at the public airing of a sensitive internal conversation.

Bopp had been circulating the resolution within the committee via e-mail over the past few weeks — ahead of the RNC’s annual winter meeting this January in Hawaii — but the document, which included the names of several co-sponsors, was leaked to several media outlets.

Bopp himself was frustrated by the leak of the resolution.

“I really was not interested in going public,” said Bopp in an interview with POLITICO. “I think somebody is trying to sabotage our efforts by prematurely showing it to the brass to shut down the debate we are having about it.”

Sharon Day, a national committeewoman from Florida who also serves as RNC secretary, also expressed disappointment that a private discussion had suddenly gone public.

“Whoever leaked it should be ashamed of themselves; it’s a party dialogue and a thought process,” said Day. “It’s very unfortunate that someone found it necessary to leak it, and I don’t think any of the individuals involved were pleased with that.”

Bopp explained the resolution by noting that the RNC has “an urgent task of reestablishing the Republican Party’s conservative bona fides.”